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Driver admits guilt in first-date hit-and-run death

Patricia Clayton was driving when she struck and killed Marjorie Averill in Hillsboro.

A 77-year-old woman changed her plea Monday, Oct. 28, in the case of a hit-and-run that injured a man and killed a woman on their first date.

Patricia Clayton pleaded guilty and was sentenced on one count of failing to perform the duties of a driver.

In January, she was driving a white van on Northeast 17th Avenue in Hillsboro, then stopped at a stop sign. Clayton turned left onto Northeast Cornell Road while Tim Mahan and Marjorie Averill were crossing. The van hit both Averill and Mahan, then drove away without stopping.

Averill, 38, died at the scene. Mahan was slightly hurt.

Days after the crash, Mahan told KOIN 6 News what happened when they crossed the street.

"We were walking and just about to the bus stop. We had to cross the crosswalk right there and the van took off, kind of knocked me out of the way," he said at that time. "I was, like, banging on the hood of the van, you know, 'Stop! Stop!' you know, and it just sped up."

Mahan, 47, said he was on the inside, closest to the van, and Averill was on the outside.

"If they could have stopped once they hit me, and I would have had my little injuries and she would have been fine," he said. "Everything would have been fine. They chose to speed up."

The day after the crash, Hillsboro police said they located the van that has a dark-colored graphic decal along its driver's side and identified a person of interest.

But Clayton, a resident of North Plains, wasn't arrested until September. At that time, she was charged with two counts of failing to perform the duties of a driver.

Editor's note: This story originally appeared on the website of KOIN 6 News, the News-Times' media partner.

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